no more than about five steps in either direction lived not only a family but
often also one or more servants. In one house in Jamestown’s satellite set-
tlement of Martin’s Hundred, about 1622, the Emersons—a man, his wife,
and their eleven-year-old son—lived with two servants. As blacks began to
be imported after 1619, they too lived with colonists’ families, along with
indentured white servants. In Virginia, blacks did not move into separate
quarters until nearly the end of the seventeenth century. Then they too
attempted to reproduce what they remembered of the styles of the “old
country.” For them, of course, that was not England but Africa.
Given the severity of the winters all along the eastern seaboard and
need for means to cook, fireplaces were a necessity even in the tiny,
crowded houses. In the absence of brick and mortar, they were made of
logs insulated as well as possible by clay to prevent fire from “breaking
through” and lighting the highly flammable roofs.
Inside the houses there was not much room for furniture. That was just
as well, since the settlers had little. As Captain John Smith told immigrants,
they should take canvas to make sacks, which, stuffed with straw and laid
on the floor, served as beds. Bedsteads did not become common until later
in the century. In inventories dating from around 1630, chairs were still
rare, even in the more settled areas; and they would remain rare for more
than a century on the frontier. Tables, benches, and stools were made of
split logs held up by sticks inserted as legs. Even necessary equipment,
such as spinning wheels and churns, was rare.
The first colonists were naturally governed by the habits they brought
with them from England. Their basic diet was limited initially to the dried
food that Smith had urged them to bring. Colonists were not adventurous
gourmets. They rejected the potato and most other American vegetables,
though they did eat corn, probably because it lent itself to the mush and
stews that were their common recipes. They ate shellfish because it was read-
ily available at low tide, but they were not fond of the salmon or shad that
swarmed in the sea and rivers. As soon as they could get enough pigs, pork
became a staple: smoked, salted, or pickled, it was easier to preserve than
other meat. As their houses became more sophisticated, they also learned
to cure venison in “smoke-holes” abutting their chimneys. Adopting most
native foods took years of hunger and experiment.
Early Days in the Colonies 113